In this antitrust action, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused a pharmaceutical manufacturer of anti-competitive practices. The suit was resolved with a settlement of over one billion dollars.

The defendant, Cephalon, Inc., is the producer of the drug, Provigil, a pharmaceutical product used to treat narcolepsy, and sleep apnea. The FTC alleged that defendant entered into agreements with four generic drug manufacturers to prevent their selling generic versions of the drug. According to the FTC, the defendant initially sued for patent infringement, but later paid the manufacturers $________ in total to drop their patent challenges and forgo marketing their generic products for six years, until April ________. These companies had challenged the only remaining patent covering Provigil – one relating to the size of particles used in the product. The FTC states that this behavior denied patients access to lower-cost generics and forced consumers and other purchasers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year more for Provigil.

In ________, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accusing the defendant, Cephalon, Inc., of anti-competitive practices relating to it branded drug, Provigil. The case was later transferred to the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In ________, the defendant was acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.The matter was resolved with a settlement, in which the defendant agreed to establish a $________ settlement fund for the purpose of providing refunds to purchasers, including drug wholesalers, pharmacies, and insurers. The defendant also agreed to a permanent injunction, prohibiting them from engaging in certain types of reverse payment agreements. The order bars Teva from entering into a business deal with a competitor within 30 days of, or expressly conditioned on, a patent litigation settlement that restricts that competitors generic entry.